The Roma people

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Brussels, 7.4.2010

The social and economic integration of the Roma in Europe

Context

The EU and its Member States have a special responsibility ________ the Roma, who live in all Member States, candidate countries and ________ candidates. The Charter of Fundamental Rights ________ out the values on which the EU is based. These values need to be translated ________ practice in order to improve the situation of the Roma people, who form the ________ ethnic minority in the EU.

Roma inclusion is in ________ too with the Inclusive Growth priority of the EU 2020 strategy and especially its Flagship Initiative of a European Platform against Poverty. The full integration of Roma will have important economic ________ for our societies, especially for those countries with a ________ population which cannot ________ to exclude a large part of their potential labour force.

Yet a significant part of the 10-12 million Roma in Europe live in extreme ________ in both rural and urban areas and in very poor socio-economic conditions. The discrimination, ________ exclusion and segregation which Roma face are mutually reinforcing. They face limited ________ to high quality education, difficulties in integration into the labour ________, correspondingly low income levels, and poor ________ which in turn results in higher mortality rates and ________ life expectancy ________ with non-Roma. Roma exclusion ________ not only significant human suffering but also significant direct costs for public budgets as ________ as indirect costs through losses in productivity.

The complexity and interdependence of the problems calls ________ sustainable responses which ________ all aspects of Roma deprivation through an integrated approach. Low educational ________, labour market barriers, segregation in ________ and other areas, and poor health outcomes need to be addressed simultaneously.

Since December 2007, in a ________ of Council conclusions, the EU has endorsed the Commission’s ________ that there is a powerful EU framework of legislative, financial and policy coordination tools already ________ to support Roma inclusion, but that more can be done to ________ them work more effectively.[1] The Council affirmed that it is a ________ responsibility of the Member States and the European Union to address the challenge of Roma inclusion, within the scope of their respective and complementary competences, and has firmly embedded Roma ________ into EU policy-making. [2] The current Trio Presidency has identified the social and economic integration of the Roma ________ one of their priorities.[3]

Measures to ________ Roma exclusion need to be set within the ________ framework of European equality, inclusion, and growth policies and to ________ the use of the legal and financial instruments available also to ________ society. The ________ objective is an inclusive society, not a new form of ethnic segregation: ________ progress which can be achieved in the area of Roma inclusion represents progress too in the inclusion of all ethnic minorities in the EU and ________.

The aim of this Communication, ________ of the 2nd Roma Summit, is to indicate how the European Union will develop its contribution to the full social and economic integration of the Roma, on the ________ of the progress achieved.

Progress Achieved

Since 2008 progress has been ________ in the Member States and at the EU level, as the accompanying report demonstrates[4]. The focus ________ in the EU in 2009 from an analysis of the problems to an exploration of ________ existing instruments could be made more effective and how the situation of the Roma could be addressed more explicitly across a broad ________ of policies, including employment, social inclusion, health, education, housing, youth and culture.

The_________ and further development of EU legislation in the areas of non-discrimination, freedom of movement, data protection and anti-racism has continued. The Commission also________ the transposition of the relevant acquis in candidate countries and potential candidates. This was complemented by including a specific Roma perspective in the work of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency, the ________ of specialised Equality Bodies (EQUINET), training for legal practitioners and the European Commission's ‘For Diversity — Against Discrimination’ information campaign.

The European Platform for Roma inclusion — composed ________ key players in Roma inclusion from EU institutions, international organisations, Member States governments and ________ society — was launched in April 2009 to exchange good practice and experience and to stimulate cooperation among ________ participants. Its objective is to increase the _________ and effectiveness of the parallel policy processes at national, European and international level with a ________ to creating synergies. The Common Basic Principles for Roma inclusion, ________ up under the Platform process and distilled from the experiences of successful Roma inclusion initiatives, provides a practical ________ for public policy-makers at all levels on how to design and ________ successful initiatives.[5]

For example, the second of the ten Principles was used to justify the Commission ________ in 2009 to modify the European Regional Development Fund Regulation. The aim is to benefit extremely ________ communities – explicitly but not exclusively addressing Roma communities – in the 27 EU Member States by co-funding interventions, together with the European Social Fund, in new and ________ housing in urban and rural areas, as part of an integrated ________ that includes education, employment, social ________, and healthcare actions.

________ Member States report a stronger focus on internal coordination and on involving the Roma communities. Some Member States have begun to use the opportunities of complex programming and combined cohesion policy instruments.

Member States report that they want to mainstream Roma issues and to use mutual learning and peer reviews to explore how to improve their initiatives on desegregation and on access to education, employment and ________ social services. A forum for such ________ is the European Network on Social Inclusion and Roma under the Structural Funds (EURoma), which aims at exchanging information and experience, ________ strategies and approaches and generating knowledge.

The forthcoming report of a study for the Commission in 2009 and 2010 on ‘Activities to improve the impact of policies, programmes and projects ________ at the social inclusion and non-discrimination of Roma people in the EU’ will identify success factors and ________ practice.

Many of these actions have been supported by the EU _________ Funds, and in particular the ESF[6]. In line with the conclusions of the December 2008 General Affairs Council and the March 2009 Resolution of the European Parliament, the Commission increased its _________ to harness the full potential of these instruments. In particular, the Commission has engaged bilaterally with Member States’ governments to support them in ________ greater use of the EU Structural Funds to support Roma inclusion. ________, the effectiveness of the ESF has been enhanced by stepping up the monitoring and evaluation of Roma projects and disseminating ________ Europe those measures which were found to be particularly ________.

The European Commission is also implementing a ________ project on Roma inclusion (€ 5 million 2010-2012), initiated by the European Parliament, addressing early ________ education, self-employment through micro-credit, and public ________ particularly in countries with high Roma populations. The project will also explore methods for ________ collection and counterfactual evaluation to ________ the impact of the interventions in these three fields.